


Ilia's Revenge

by Kiiratam



Series: The Weissian Conspiracy [5]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Anti-Faunus Racism (RWBY), Canon Compliant, F/F, Mild Blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26002666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiiratam/pseuds/Kiiratam
Summary: Ilia can'twaitto see Weiss Schnee suffer.Takes place between Volumes 5 & 6 (My BMBLB fic index).The smutty version ishere.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Ilia Amitola/Blake Belladonna
Series: The Weissian Conspiracy [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1482356
Comments: 8
Kudos: 33





	Ilia's Revenge

Ilia slammed the door shut, and mimed locking it. Still facing the door, she allowed herself a small grin. It was finally happening.

  
Behind her, Miss Schnee kept whining - as she had for the entire term of Ilia's employment - probably something about life wasn't _fair_ , and who did these criminal degenerates think they were, and so on and so on. Ilia had honestly stopped listening after the first couple days, only paying enough attention to nod at appropriate points, or murmur, 'You're absolutely right, Miss Schnee.'

  
Composing her face, Ilia turned around to face Miss Schnee. Not make eye contact - that was strictly forbidden by her contract. She tried to put an appropriate amount of fear in her voice. "The door is locked, but I don't know if it will hold if one of those criminals tries to break in." Too much fear, and Miss Schnee would just call her hysterical. Too little, and she'd suspect.

  
"Of _course_ it will hold, Ilia. My father wouldn't skimp on security for his heir." That self-assured set of her shoulders, that complete certainty that her will was the most important thing - Ilia might have found it attractive, if it had been attached to anyone except the heiress of the Schnee Dust Corporation.

  
Miss Schnee actually reached out and put a hand on Ilia's shoulder.

  
That... was new. As Miss Schnee's maid, Ilia had to constantly be touching her - helping her dress, undress, brush her hair, apply her make-up, wait on her hand and foot - but Ilia had never known Miss Schnee to touch _her_.

  
It had seemed like a boon, at first. Miss Schnee had her faults - her many, many, _many_ faults - but at least she didn't beat the servants. Personally, or even through proxies. Which was more than Ilia could say about other members of the Schnee household.

  
But, after months and months of service, sleeping in the little room adjacent to Miss Schnee's, with hardly a day off, and certainly no contact with any of her real friends, or even people she could relax around...

  
Iia shivered, and Miss Schnee withdrew her hand with a frown. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to make you uncomfortable."

  
She nearly looked at Miss Schnee's eyes before she caught herself. What had gotten into the heiress? Was it just knowing that her manor was under attack? Was this her cracking her icy heart just a little bit open, hoping for some kindness before the end?

  
Ilia decided that was it. Miss Schnee was setting contingency plans, just in case the room was breached. Show the maid a little kindness, pretend she's human for a few minutes, and reap the dividends of that affection.

  
Well, Ilia wasn't going to fall for it. She knew all too well what the SDC had done.

  
...Though Miss Schnee _did_ think she was human. Literally. Ilia had fallen back on everything she'd learned as a child, and Miss Schnee had no idea that her personal maid was actually a Faunus.

  
It had been... nice. Amid all the tensions of the job, being a 'human' placed her higher on the servant's pecking order. Her supper was always hot, her maintenance requests were quickly met... Some of it was just being Miss Schnee's maid, Ilia knew, but not all of it.

  
And she'd tried to look out for the Faunus servants, but there was only so much she could do without compromising herself. A loud conversation with 'another' human servant about a doctor who was willing to see Faunus, and how that was _disgraceful_ , all within earshot of one of the Faunus servants with a sick child. A few lines in one of her dead drops about a servant who had been fired unjustly, when they had a family to support. Not enough.

  
"Please, sit with me." Miss Schnee crossed to her sitting area, and sat down on the couch, instead of her favorite chair.

  
Telling herself that she was almost done, she just had to keep up the facade a little while longer, Ilia sat next to Miss Schnee.

  
"I just can't believe this is happening. The White Fang, attacking? How did they know that the military is on secret maneuvers? They're secret! It's supposed to keep the common people from worrying! And how did they know that our security force has been reduced to deal with the Mantle riots? They wear helmets for a reason! And the fighting started inside the estate walls! It _must_ be an inside job."

  
Ilia squeezed her hands together, knuckles white. She'd passed all of those details along to the White Fang, after Miss Schnee had accidentally left out a number of reports. A courtesy note from General Ironwood to Mr. Schnee about the maneuvers, which he'd shared with his daughter, amid curses. A report from the head of security, recommending that the manor hire outside personnel to make up for their current shortage. All the White Fang had to do was get some of their own hired, and they had opened the gate for the larger force. The one that would be beating down Miss Schnee's door shortly. Or, really, just slipping inside, since the door wasn't locked.

  
Miss Schnee fumed. "And here I am, hiding in my room. I'm sure the rest of my family are cowering, too, but _they_ don't know how to fight."

  
Ilia ventured a cautious statement. "I believe your bodyguards just wanted to keep you safe."

  
"Yes, yes, I know. I don't have to _enjoy_ it, but I do understand their reasoning. They can fight better when they don't have to worry about protecting me." Miss Schnee paused, in a rare moment of self-awareness. "And I suppose my weapon is in this room."

  
Ilia saw an opportunity to outflank Miss Schnee, or even spit her on her own sword. "Would Miss like me to-"

  
"No, no. Plenty of time for that later. It's just in a box. It won't take you but a minute."

  
Ilia bit her lip to keep her smile off of her face. Miss Schnee's arrogance would see her facing the White Fang unarmed. 

  
The sounds of fighting were getting closer, echoing through the tall halls of the Schnee Manor. Ilia wasn't sure who'd they send - whether they had managed to marshal enough to sweep room by room, or whether it was just small strike teams - she hadn't been told much, in case she was captured. And Ilia had been away from the leadership for nearly a year now, establishing her cover identity, getting hired, being Miss Schnee's maid...

  
But all of that was almost over. Ilia found herself practically quivering in anticipation, despite her best efforts.

  
Frowning, Miss Schnee took Ilia's hand, pressing it tightly between her own two. "Don't _worry_ , Ilia, you're just a servant. If anyone breaks that door down, they'll be trying to kill _me_. You might be able to slip out during the fight. Or stay, and take your chances. I hear the White Fang doesn't kill bystanders. Like at Cobaldish Mine. They certainly killed all the administrators there, and decorated the mining equipment with them, but they didn't do anything to the human miners or even the administrative staff."

  
Ilia had to admit, she was oddly comforted by Miss Schnee's words. Even if they were a transparent attempt to win her sympathy, or somehow reassure herself. At least Miss Schnee was spending them on that, and not ranting and raving about degenerate Faunus defiling her family home. Mr. Schnee almost certainly was.

  
Besides, she'd been with Miss Schnee for months now. It was natural to feel a bit of sympathy, maybe even a slight amount of regret. Ilia had pride in what she'd accomplished. Even if the attack wasn't a complete success, striking at the Schnees themselves - it gave them leverage. If the White Fang could punish the Schnees, no one was beyond them.

  
Miss Schnee had apparently run out of comforting words, though because she was just squeezing Ilia's hand tightly.

  
There was a light trickle of embarrassment winding its way through Ilia's mind. At the end, the only person Miss Schnee had left was her maid. Her White Fang infiltrator maid, who had _longed_ for her weapon the first days of her employment. Who, even now, was impatiently awaiting the end of her job, and the freedom to see-

  
Miss Schnee gasped, and Ilia looked up at her, into her startled blue eyes.

  
A dark-haired woman in a Grimm mask had her black sword poised at the base of Miss Schnee's skull. She spoke, "Any last words, Schnee?"

  
Miss Schnee gave Ilia's hand a last squeeze, and let go, slowly raising her hands. "Several. But I imagine you have some words you wish me to hear first."

  
Ilia had to give her credit, she had guts. But her heart was too busy leaping, because -

  
Blake laughed. "Is this the part where you expect me to explain my evil plan? I think you're mistaken. The Schnees are the villains of this little morality play."

  
"I don't disagree."

  
Ilia looked at Miss Schnee, incredulously. She turned to exchange looks with Blake, but her mask was in the way.

  
Blake tore her mask from her face - she'd always hated wearing those, and loved dramatically flinging them aside - and tossed it onto one of the chairs. She was wearing the same expression as Ilia. Circling the couch, keeping her weapon trained on Miss Schnee, she held out her hand to Ilia.

  
Taking it, Ilia let herself be pulled to her feet. She wanted to nestle up to Blake's side, soak in her lover's touch again, drag her into a deep kiss - but now wasn't the time. Later. Blake passed her Gambol Shroud's scabbard, and Ilia set the wicked edge of it against Miss Schnee's neck.

  
Miss Schnee's eyes met theirs, looking just a trifle exasperated. "It would be much easier to answer questions without weapons at my throat."

  
Blake growled. "Indeed. Talk."

  
She let out a sigh. "Very well. To begin with, Ilia, do I _ever_ leave out classified documents?"

  
"Once was enough."

  
"But it _wasn't_ once, was it? It was twice. And it just so happened that the only times I left out documents, they were integral to setting up this entire mission. What if I had been 'sleepy' and left out fiscal reports instead? Does the White Fang play the stock market?"

  
Ilia withdrew her blade a centimeter. She had a point, it _had_ been incredibly convenient.

  
Blake's sword didn't move. "And?"

  
Miss Schnee sighed again. "Really? Feeding information to the White Fang, letting them launch an attack on my family home, that isn't enough for you?"

  
A pinprick of blood appeared under the tip of Gambol Shroud, shockingly red against Miss Schnee's skin. " _And_?"

  
"And I know my father, and the SDC, have done horrible things to Faunus. But I'm only the heiress. I helped where I could, but until I inherit, all of my power only exists at my father's sufferance. I turned to the White Fang -"

  
Ilia laid her blade back against Miss Schnee's throat. "You used us."

  
"I am in complete agreement with your moral goals. I had hoped to build a mutually beneficial relationship, once the SDC was actually under my control. No one will use anyone in this relationship."

  
The door opened, and Miss Schnee's blonde bodyguard entered. "Ruby's getting our extraction vehicle, Miss Schnee, so grab-" She saw the tableau before her, and raised her fists. "You."

  
Blake withdrew her weapon from Miss Schnee's throat, to aim it at the newcomer. "Xiao Long."

  
"Belladonna."

  
Miss Schnee sighed. "Miss Xiao Long, I won't be needing that vehicle. Please tell your sister to stand down."

  
"I won't let you be kidnapped."

  
"I am not being kidnapped, I'm trying to co-operate! The SDC has been in the wrong, for longer than any of us have been alive. I'm trying to _fix_ that. Please surrender your weapons."

  
Xiao Long was wavering, Ilia could tell. But she wasn't going to give up, unless -

  
Miss Schnee's blue eyes met Ilia's, silently pleading.

  
Ilia lifted the edge of Gambol Shroud's scabbard from Miss Schnee's neck.

  
"Thank you, Miss Amitola." Miss Schnee actually sounded grateful.

  
Xiao Long lowered her fists. "I can't believe I'm doing this..." She collapsed her vambraces down to bracelets, and tossed them to Blake. Pulling out her scroll, she waggled it at Blake. "Can I call my sister? Cancel that evac?"

  
Blake nodded. Xiao Long started quietly talking into her scroll.

  
Taking a few steps back from Miss Schnee, Ilia returned Gambol Shroud's scabbard. And put her arm around her lover's waist.

  
Miss Schnee wiped away the spot of blood at her throat, and folded her hands in her lap. "Miss Belladonna, Miss Amitola, please present your demands."

* * *

  
Ilia's eyes snapped open. She cautiously raised her head, looking around the small bedroom. Blake was curled up in her own bed, and a light breeze blew in through the window.

  
Laying back down, Ilia picked up her scroll from the bedside table, and unrolled it. Looking at her latest contact.

  
Weiss Schnee.

  
All in the name of making Blake happy again, helping her reconcil with one of her Beacon friends.

  
'Friends.' The way Sun and Weiss had talked, Blake and Yang hadn't just been friends.

  
But Ilia had put her own feelings for Blake aside before. For the cause.

  
...It was just that the cause had become 'make Blake happy.'

  
And Blake knew about Ilia's feelings now. Ilia just... had to be a friend first. Was trying to relearn what friendship was, after nearly sending Blake back to Adam. With Sun, Blake's _real_ friend, standing in her way.

  
Ilia took a deep breath, and all she could smell was Blake, and-

  
She rolled her scroll up, and closed her eyes.

  
_I'm going to help Weiss. Even if she is a Schnee. I want to be Blake's friend again._


End file.
